Three rolling out its 4G network in the UK this December

Yesterday, both Vodafone and O2 in the UK switched on their 4G networks in select cities throughout the country -- a full 10 months after the UK's first 4G provider, EE, did. And while the wait has been long for some 4G competition, it's now nice to have some options here. However, perhaps a little disappointingly, there's not a lot of difference between pricing plans on the three networks for iPhone 5 owners who want 4G service on their phones. Thankfully in December that will change, because yesterday UK carrier Three announced that is when their 4G service is going live.

The best thing about Three's 4G plans is that it will be up to 50 percent cheaper in some cases than competing plans on the other networks and, if you're a 4G customer on Three right now, you'll get 4G automatically at no extra cost. London, Birmingham and Manchester will be the first with 4G service from Three this December, followed by another 50 cities in the UK in 2014 and 98 percent of the population covered by 2015.